On May 3, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ten-page opinion in Bell v Raffensperger, S21A0306. An independent candidate in 2020 needed 1,255 signatures to get on the ballot. He submitted 2,200 but was told in early September that he only had 827 valid signatures. He sued in state court, which denied relief. Then he appealed to the State Supreme Court, which merely says that the case is moot.

The experience of Andrew Bell, the plaintiff-candidate, shows how difficult it is to petition in Georgia for district office.

In 1980, when the same thing happened to John B. Anderson, the independent presidential candidate, a U.S. District Court in Georgia put him on the ballot on the basis that due process demands that when a candidate is told he or she doesn’t have enough signatures, the candidate must be given a chance to show that he really did have enough signatures. Unfortunately, that case, Anderson v Poythress, seems to have been long forgotten. It is not reported.

Nevada SB 292 will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, May 5, at 6:30 pm. It imposes a severe distribution requirement on petitions to create a new or previously unqualified party. Unlike distribution requirements in most states, which require only a small number of signatures from a certain share of the U.S. House districts, this bill requires the full 1% from each of the U.S. House districts.

The bill also creates a straight-ticket device. Thanks to Janine Hansen for this news.

On May 3, Georgia filed this brief in U.S. District Court in The New Georgia Project v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:21cv-1229. This is the case (along with similar cases combined with this one) over SB 202, the 2021 omnibus election law bill.

The state defends the law prohibiting anyone from giving free food or water to someone waiting in line. The state claims this law is necessary to “protect electors from improper interference, political pressure, or intimidation”. Also Georgia claims New York has the same law.